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8:46 am
December 29, 2010
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Mike – Saving Money Today
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So I'd really like to teach myself how to use Photoshop for making simle graphics like headers and ecovers for myself…and if I get good enough I can add an income stream freelancing. I can't afford the full version right now but is it ok to start with Photoshop Elements? That's less than $100 on Amazon, but I don't know if includes everything I need.
Also, are there any good guides or tutorials out there for learning the basics?
thanks!
Mike
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9:27 am
December 29, 2010
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moneycone
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Try Gimp, its free and quite powerful. It has a steeper learning curve, but you can do equally amazing things with Gimp!
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9:41 am
December 29, 2010
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Buy Like Buffett
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I am really interested in this thread because I have been considering purchasing Photoshop myself? Does elements do the same thing? Is Photoshop worth the price tag? It seems really costly.
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11:02 am
December 29, 2010
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Mike – Saving Money Today
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moneycone said:
Try Gimp, its free and quite powerful. It has a steeper learning curve, but you can do equally amazing things with Gimp!
I've heard of Gimp, but I thought PS was like the standard for graphics work. I'll have to check Gimp out. thanks!
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11:40 am
December 29, 2010
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Suba @ Wealth Informatics
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+1 for gimp. But the learning curve is steeper than PS (at least for me). I have/use photoshop. I will look at the elements and see if it is comparable.
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11:47 am
December 29, 2010
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moneycone
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The learning curve is definitely steeper, but can't argue with free vs $600!
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11:53 am
December 29, 2010
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Suba @ Wealth Informatics
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moneycone said:
The learning curve is definitely steeper, but can't argue with free vs $600!
Totally agree. I just wanted to let that know before hand. And I spent only ~$150 for the student edition, so my damage was not that steep 
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11:58 am
December 29, 2010
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moneycone
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Paint Shop Pro is lot cheaper and easier to use, but probably not as powerful. Not free either. I used it a long time back, the latest version might have a lot more features.
If you are on the Mac Pixelmator is pretty good.
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12:33 pm
December 29, 2010
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Forest Parks
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I use photoshop pretty well (years in the graphic design and retouching biz) but I don't like elements one bit! I would say use Gimp until you can afford photoshop.
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1:25 pm
December 29, 2010
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Buy Like Buffett
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This was a really helpful thread. I had never even heard of Gimp.
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6:38 pm
December 29, 2010
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Mike – Saving Money Today
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I downloaded Gimp and I'm fooling around with it a bit…definitely going to take some time to get my sea legs with this!
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9:18 pm
December 29, 2010
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financialstudent
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Yep, GIMP will get the job done. But it's sort of like OpenOffice vs. Office. OpenOffice is great…but it's just not quite there.
I use PS…it's not exactly..ahem, legal, but I'm planning to buy the real version once revenue picks up. Then it'll be a business expense. :)
There's a learning curve with both programs – you can literally do ANYTHING. I found it helpful to search youtube for "photoshop tutorials" and practice with what they were doing. For blogging, PS or Gimp won't be hard to use at all once you know the basics of layers, what the brushes do, adding text, resizing, etc.
Good luck!
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10:32 pm
December 29, 2010
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Forest Parks
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I used to work with a high end retoucher who only used gimp. Gimp is absolutely "there", just not as initially user friendly but once you know how it is amazingly powerful.
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7:57 am
December 30, 2010
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financialstudent
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Oh I completely agree. No doubt Gimp can do anything Photoshop can, but the ease of use is lacking.
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8:03 am
December 30, 2010
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Freddie @ Invest With Passion
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Let's be clear, PHOTOSHOP HAS A HELL OF A LEARNING CURVE AS WELL!!!
When I first started on it, I couldn't even figure out how to open a file or import one. Everything is soooooooooooo different it is crazy, but once you get it…it all makes sense. But there is a serious learning curve to PS….and I am still learning.
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8:11 am
December 30, 2010
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Buy Like Buffett
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How steep is the learning curve? A few hours or a few days?
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9:33 am
December 30, 2010
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Forest Parks
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A lifetime to really get it….. A few hours to understand how to open, resize and put a few tacky effects on, a few weeks to start producing some acceptable results…. It's just an extension of your own creativity once you master the basics really.
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6:17 pm
December 30, 2010
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SavingMentor
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Another option for those who don't have the budget for Photoshop nor the patience for GIMP is PAINT.NET. It is also free and I find it very easy to use and they have a fantastic online manual that teaches you a lot of the basics.
I doubt it is anywhere near as powerful as PS, but it has a great interface and gets the job done for basic to medium level tasks.
The header for my site was built using a cheap online logomaker and I jazzed it up a bit using PAINT.NET. I also use it for resizing all my images and avatars and doing any other quick edits that I need to do.
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12:13 am
December 31, 2010
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Buy Like Buffett
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I tried out Gimp Forest. You were correct. It's a pretty good platform. I have a lot to learn about it but it helped me create some graphics.
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12:15 am
December 31, 2010
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Buy Like Buffett
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Paintnet must be a new one.
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